World Kayak Event Coverage

The Midwest Freestyle Championships were last weekend in Wausau Wisconsin. I was there to coach some freestyle clinics and to soak up the Midwest boating scene. Let me tell you they can get things done in Wausau. Not only was the event a great time and a huge success, but the off water events were spectacular! I was introduced to 4 square, I got to hang at the VFW, and I stood in aw of Team PBR. All you pro kayakers out there Watch Out!
I had two full days of coaching before the event and then two more of competition. The clinics were awesome. Not only did we have a great mix of boaters and skill levels, but also we got some podium placements from a number of our participants. The JR kayaking crowd in Wausau is strong. We had a number of slalom boaters looking to give freestyle a try, and we had multiple C-1er’s as well!
On Friday night we had a great movie premier featuring the 09’ JK promo video, Here and Now, and Night of the Living Donkey. There were 45 people that hung out for all three movies. That is a lot of kayaking porn! All that was followed up with some of the nightly 4 square. With that late of a night it was amazing to still see such a strong showing in the competition on Saturday morning. The prelims went all day and the top 5 advanced to finals on Sunday. The categories included K-1 beginner, K-1 expert, K-1 women, Masters K-1, K-1 Jr, and C-1. Talk about a long day. Dave Lemke kept everyone laughing all day with his sporty commentary.
Sunday brought about the finals and the boater cross. The first order of the day was the team freestyle event. Teams of three boaters gave it their all for 2 long minutes. You could put two boaters in the hole at once if you felt safe enough. The theme of the team event was style. People were throwing their paddles, swimming on purpose, and an assortment of anything crazy you could come up with. I was lucky enough to get to design the boater cross course. I did not make it easy on anyone! We had two mandatory neck down points, one of which involved an attainment and a ferry across the down stream traffic. The other was a neck down between two gun sight rocks. The JR. heat produced the best carnage of the day. There was three-boat surf off in the hole at the bottom of big drop. After the boater cross we headed back upstream for the individual finals. The top 5 boaters all dueled it out till there were only 3 left for the finals. All skill levels produced a strong battle. I am especially proud to announce that Kevin Mayfield, our very own WK ambassador for Chicago, won the Beginner class and is now forced to step it up with the big boys for next year.
When it was all said and done it took three days for me to get my voice back after the weekend. I will be back for sure! The course in Wausau has an abundance of great spots that is worth checking out for sure. Thanks to Julie and Cole for all of their hard work on this great event.

Later ; Colin

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